WildLife Guards Learning & Educating
The Bridgeport WildLife Guards are both learning and educating at Pleasure Beach! RTPI and Audubon Connecticut trained staff members teach these high school students each day, and they in turn help to educate dozens of daily visitors about the rare and endangered plants and animals that surround them along this stunning shoreline. We are teaching the teachers of the next generation about science and conservation, and as you can see below, they are engaging in creative ways to reach people – especially children. I spent some time with the WildLife Guards last Saturday and observed their...
Read MoreWildLife Guards Monitoring
What a week. All of us have been extremely busy and it will continue tomorrow and Sunday and…well, every day this summer. Here are a couple photos of the Bridgeport WildLife Guards in action yesterday as they monitored the Piping Plover pair with one chick at Pleasure Beach. ‘ They also recorded all the other bird species that they saw on the shoreline while learning more about our avian neighbors. The Guards noted the chick flying today and classified it as finally having fledged officially – woo! Now they will have the opportunity to see how long each of the parents...
Read MoreJuly Sunset
Here are a couple sunset photos from last night at Stratford Point as we were on duty providing some fireworks coverage here in Stratford, Milford and West Haven for the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. You can see the reef balls in the distance along our dune and spartina growth in the intertidal zone. We had a couple Black-crowned Night-Heron visitors appropriately join us just after darkness fell on the site. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreWildLife Guards Training – Netting Dragonflies
Training week for the Bridgeport WildLife Guards Crew Leaders continues! We will be adding some new lesson plans and activities for the WildLife Guards this year both in conservation survey work and educational outreach. While much of our work is focused on birds we felt that considering Pleasure Beach is an important migratory hub for butterflies and dragonflies that we should teach the WildLife Guards about some of the insects that they can expect to see moving through the gardens and fields of milkweed, goldenrod and so forth. I created a couple lists of ten expected butterfly and...
Read More2016 Bridgeport WildLife Guards
Today was the first day of training for our Crew Leaders in the 2016 Bridgeport WildLife Guards! We are happy to have a great new Crew Leader, Kari Lickey, and a terrific returning Crew Leader from last summer, Emily Allen. This week will focus on planning for the seven-week season with 10 high school students from Bridgeport, Connecticut as they join us at Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport beginning next Tuesday. They will be on duty at the shore monitoring endangered waterbirds and educating visitors, families, and friends about Pleasure Beach and its ecosystem every Tuesday through Saturday,...
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